TUBERCULOSIS TAKES TOLL OF INDIAN TRIBES

DOCTOR DECLARES DEATH RATE IS FOUR TIMES THAT OF WHITES

Washington, March 18 - Despite efforts of the medical profession and of the Indian bureau, the death rate of the Indians of the nation is startling. Dr. M. C. Guthrie, surgeon in the U.S. health service has prepared a statement on health conditions among the red men which challenges attention of the nation.

Tuberculosis is taking a dreadful toll, explaining in part why the Indian population has gone down in contact with the white man's civilization. It is estimated the deaths from this disease are more than four times the rate among white people. This is accredited in part of racial immunity to this disease, poor economical status, unhygenic living conditions, lack of personal hygiene and an inadequate diet or poorly balanced diet, lacking in essentials which build up body resistance and protect against the disease.

The high mortality, Dr. Guthrie says, among infants and little children is due to those same condition. To this might be added the small toll exacted by contagious diseases.

Trachoma, Dr. Guthrie says, has been prevalent in the Indian population for many years. Its origin is obscure but statistical data shows that Indians in different parts of the country have been afflicted with it for generations or longer. In a few sections, there are groups of Indians who are entirely free of it.

Dr. Guthrie roughly estimates the total Indian population in the United States at 350,000, a startlinly small figure when it is considered that the red race once spread over the entire continent. His race is still disappearing according to the information furnished in this report.

Minnesota, North and South Dakota are among the states where large groups of them still live. However, many are found throughout the entire United States.

Many live under desert conditions in arid or semi-arid climates. In almost all cases among the larger groups, their existence is isolated and in rural communities, far removed from centers of population.

"Public health problems" Dr. Guthrie says, "among these groups of North American aboriginies are the conditions common to any group of people where ignorance, superstition and poverty prevail and are influenced materially by an economic status which makes difficult or prohibits the introduction of establish [ part missing here ]

In 1911, the appropriation for the health activities for this bureau was forty thousand dollars. The appropriation for the operation of this service in 1929 was $440,000 [moneys] have been used also from tribal appropriations and from other sources in the administration of the health work.

"The general death rate among the Indian population for whom we have records, is about twice that of the registration area of the United States.

"While the statistics sent into this office are not accurate for the entire population, they are indicative of general conditions and trends. From such statistical data for the period from July to December, 1927, tuberculosis in all forms constituted 276 of the 1,089 deaths, a percentage of 25.4.

{ missing part ] ed measures because of lack of facilities to carry out such measures and a trained personnel who are content to live under conditions of isolation and at time actual hardship.

"The major problems from the health standpoint in the Indian country are first of importance - tuberculosis; second, factors that are responsible for a death rate in infants and children; third, trachoma."